In a scathing attack on the transatlantic alliance, Mr.Millon poured scorn on Washington's influence over Europe, claiming that abandoning Nato would prevent the EU from "bowing to US policy" which does not necessarily line up with its interests.

“It is as though we had returned to the calamitous times of the Warsaw Pact and Pershing missiles in 1979, when the frightened West - the 'free world' - took refuge under America's wings,” he said.

“Political wrangling in Ukraine, for example, is playing out between Russia and the United States directly, completely bypassing the European Union which, in a sense, is actually the source of the turmoil, because of the EU’s desire to integrate Ukraine into its economic sphere.”

In a sop to Vladimir Putin, he added: “Europe's desire for indefinite expansion and its methods of sizing up Ukraine for its economic area were, at the very least, tactless as well as making no geopolitical sense.”

His comments, written for the Brussels-based Geopolitical information Service think-tank, emerge as David Cameron continues to battle to prevent arch Euro federalist Jean-Claude Juncker from becoming head of the European Commission.

Last night they were seized upon by critics as "more proof if any was needed" that the Brussels machine was not listening to the will of ordinary Europeans following last month's landmark European elections.

Putting forward a vision that would place France at the heart of Europe and risk alienating eastern European members, Mr Millon said: "A common foreign policy with an articulated, over-arching, shared vision of its place in the world is key to Europe developing a common defence policy.

"A grouping of six or so EU countries - excluding the UK because of its divergent interests - could be the way forward.”

He admitted that Europe’s defence policy and absence of military clout was “failing to frighten anyone while it seeks to be a world leader”.

Mr Millon feels NATO is too heavily influenced by the US [GETTY]

A grouping of six or so EU countries - excluding the UK because of its divergent interests - could be the way forward

Charles Millon

But he swept aside criticisms at Europe’s low defence spending, adding: “Common European defence does not hinge first and foremost on the technological development of a common arsenal or in creating shared standards, as has been thought for decades, but rather on the political will to intervene in the wider world, in the name of superior values,” he said.